Fully juicy in its citrus character with the pleasantly sharp, biting edges of tart fruit and bitterness, Hop Ranch Imperial India Pale Ale traces its roots to Victory’s Ranch series, a unique and comprehensive study of hops in which Brewmasters experimented with different hop varieties to showcase a range of flavor profiles and celebrate the nuances and distinctions in the resulting series’ recipes.

Based on how fond I am of Victory's "Dirt Wolf" I thought I'd give their "Hop Ranch" a spin, particularly as it uses a hop I'm not familiar with - Azacca.

Azzaca is the Caribbean God of farming, so it's not surprising that there's a tropical fruit character in the aroma, namely mango and pineapple. There's also grapefruit, some tangerine, pine, a hint of lemon, and a bit of spiciness. It's interesting, and refreshing; and as a winter seasonal, it's a fairly welcome ray of sunshine beneath the cold grey sky here in Pennsylvania!

Given the quality of the hops I see why they went with a straightforward Pilsner malt as it allows the hops to come through clearly, and also allows for some of that refreshing character to be transferred into to the flavor. Unfortunately that's all you're getting, it's not a complicated or 'dense' beer, and I'm not sure that it needed to be an "Imperial" IPA. I think it would have worked just fine as a standard IPA, or even a pale ale. The gentlemen of Victory are shrewd marketers, however, and I'm sure they didn't want to drop another entry into those already over-stocked categories. On the up-side, the alcohol that comes along with the "Imperial" designation, clocking in at a whopping 9.0 % abv., is surprisingly well-cloaked. Not unlike the "Dirt Wolf" this is a beer that does not overwhelm you with bitterness, resins, and alcohol - instead it's very focused and balanced, leaving it remarkably drinkable, and at 9%, dangerous.

So how to rate this beer? It delivers everything that an "Imperial" IPA should, sans the bitter punch and late raspy/resinous finish, the alcohol slap, and the overall palate-wrecking voluminosity. There are no defects of any sort (although I would like to see just a little more bristle in the mouthfeel), and in fact it's a really well-rounded and highly polished beer. What's not to love? But on top of that it's also quite unique, and innovative. Clearly a winner, and one that really needs to be sampled, any fan of hoppy beers needs to check it out!

Following a Hop Devil this proved to be the better Victory. Golden with a white head, strong nose of grapefruit, pine, and florals. Flavor is citrusy with pine and herbal bitters. Nicely carbonated, a proper west coast style IPA.

I might have gotten an old bottle. Very little hop character in this. It was very yeasty. So much so that I was wondering if it had been brewed with Belgian yeast. Pours cloudy and tasted somewhat thin and reminded me of a hefe. Overall, a mediocre IPA.